Beauty pageants are just one of the many activities our diverse country has to offer. Fame can get to people and make them feel they are better than others. You see this most happening to young kids at a very young age who have started feeling insecure way too much about themselves.
Once again in 2019 India’s obsession with ideal beauty emerged as 30 candidates, each representing a state, all happened to be of the same physical appearance in Miss India out of the 662 million females in our country. Quite diverse right?.This was mainly because most of them did not fit the judging criteria which involved all of them to be of a certain height and weight again promoting unattainable standards.
Not only women but Men also have unattainable beauty standards. For the people an ideal male should be masculine enough and most of the men are struggling to match these masculinity stereotypes. In India and other parts of the world ideal men have been viewed as tall and muscular which is clearly evident in Mr universe and other contests.
This leads to a Lot of young teenagers are starving themself and their parents are using too much money on these standards.They also have surgery to make them self beautiful and are harming their own body.This clearly tells that because of these unattainable standards teenagers have started giving priority to external beauty to such a great extent that they lose their original self.
Now a fact many of us might not know that the Sanskrit word 'Krishna' means black or dark. At times, it is also translated as “all attractive” but to match the beauty standards lord krishna is shown fair skinned compared to the asuras who are shown black. Along with this the sculptures in the market and temples too portray lord krishna as fair unlike the actual skin colour. Now we all can see till what extent have we all driven our beauty standards!!
According to a report by market researchers ACNielsen, in 2010, India’s whitening-cream fair and lovely market was assessed at S$432m and was growing at 18% per year. The product fair and lovely clearly tells us that there is something wrong with our color, that we have to be light in order to feel beautiful. In order to feel worthy.Along with fair and lovely other products such as the sweat slim belt are being promoted for attaining ideal standards which promotes body shaming.
We all are aware of the hindu matrimonial ads in the newspaper.we can clearly infer that education and nature of the person has become second priority whereas a tall dark and handsome man and a fair skinned girl has become the first.
The obsession with fairness can begin before a baby is even born in some parts of India, with some pregnant Indian women drinking saffron-infused milk to make their infant's skin fairer. Others avoid iron supplements in the misplaced belief it will make their unborn child darker
Because of these standards,In India People from Kashmir are asked if they are Indian and people from Kerala who have been asked if they are African. People look different and it is high time we started embracing it rather than trying to match these unattainable beauty standards.
All this obsession with fairness and other beauty standards arise because of many reasons out of which one is the beauty pageants held worldwide which promote an idealistic image of a male and a female more to do with external beauty ignoring the main identity of who the person actually is.
One of India's most respected beauty pageants also came under fire for a lack of diversity among the contestants in the year 2019. All the finalists portrayed the images of ideal beauty rather than showing that any skin colour and body type for that matter can win the title.
When we talk about beauty we often think of a typical 90-60-90 body, long legs, skinny face with big eyes, perfect skin but do you know what? People have flaws and it's normal. You shouldn't blame yourself for acne, the gap between your teeth, freckles on your face or your shoulders or any other features that make you special
It's now time for body-positive initiatives. One's identity should never be swayed by social conventions. One's self-esteem should never be dependent on one's appearance. Appearances aren't everything. Character, values, skills - these are attributes one must seek to acquire or develop
Don't try and emulate someone else's looks or personality. Be authentic - that's what will make you stand out. If you feel good about yourself on the inside then, no matter what, you - are - beautiful!